Good Things Come

Intimate is what they used to call tiny clubs. (Now a days I favor hole in the wall.) They are small, perhaps cramped even, but what they lack in space they make up for in attitude. The good kind, not the bad. The kind where the bass player moves over a little so you can get into the bathroom or the heckler in the crowd is your buddy and the drummer's cousin. And this is the place where you find tout these things because the atmosphere is anything but stuffy. So here are a few such dives, I mean intimate places, that i like to frequent and what's going on this weekend. ( I always like to start a weekend early.)
Thursday night Ruthie and The Wranglers are at The Sunset Grille. The Grille is so small you sometimes have to wait in the other room for someone to leave. Mercifully both rooms are equipped with a bar. Once in where the bands play, you can choose a bar stool or sit at one of maybe three tables if memory serves me. You never have to worry about being close enough to the band there- if you were closer you'd be in it. And people still manage to dance.

Then in town there's The Velvet Lounge, Drinks are served downstairs and upstairs is like someone's basement- dark and kind of small with a sound system befitting the 9:30 Club. If the band rocks, the people rock and so does the floor, but that's part of its charm. This Friday catch The Lookies -featuring the Rummager (ex-Velvet Monkeys, Gumball) Rambling Shadows (ex-Velvet Monkeys, Crippled Pilgrims) and 7 Door Sedan (ex-White Boy) My friend, Bill says: I love these 3 bands, they are each quite different, and don't have any following. It's gonna be arty, punky, psychedelic, and all original. And GREAT.

Following the law of PILE IT ON- there's another show Friday that older DC rockers can appreciate, and where young punks can pick up a tip or two at yet another small venue- The Quarry House. You get to know people at The Quarry House because we all smash in there together and steal each other's tater tots. Greenland a young local group with a great older sound and The Howling Mad will be there featuring local rock legends Michael Reidy and Abaad Behram. Look for them between the women's room, several cases of beer and the sound equipment.

And last but certainly not least on Saturday it's Ottley!, 7 Door Sedan and Dollar Bin at The Sidebar in Baltimore. I haven't been there, but according to Glenn of 7 Door Sedan band stickers are holding this place together. More on this show on Friday.